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| Sunday, 14 July 2002 |
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Arab ministers' group backs Saudi peace plan CAIRO, July 12 (Reuters) - A group of Arab foreign ministers on Friday backed a Saudi plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, insisting the initiative be implemented as a whole. "The participants reiterated a collective Arab commitment to this initiative as a whole without any hesitation and without any change," Lebanese Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud told a news conference after the meeting. Present were Egypt, Saudia Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Morocco, Yemen and Bahrain as well as Palestinian minister Nabil Shaath. Morocco was represented by a foreign ministry official, not the foreign minister. The meeting was not a full Arab League meeting but included members of the committee on the Arab peace initiative. In Beirut in March, an Arab summit unanimously endorsed a Saudi-led Arab peace plan offering Israel normal relations if it withdrew to pre-1967 borders, accepted a Palestinian state and agreed to the right of return of Palestinian refugees. "Arabs are committed to restoring all their rights, including ending the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian lands, the Syrian Golan and the remaining part of the Lebanese lands," Hammoud added in a news conference with Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa. The ministers were committed to establishing a sovereign Palestinian state within pre-1967 borders, as well as to the right of return of Palestinian refugees, he said. Moussa said Arabs could not accept any other peace framework. "The meeting stressed a Palestinian state should be a real and active state with East Jerusalem as its capital," he said, adding the issues of Jerusalem and refugees had to be resolved. "In this framework, the Arab countries are ready, not only to sign a peace agreement, but to establish peaceful relations as well," Moussa added. The League chief said a token Palestinian state, or a state on just half the lands demanded, would not be accepted. Hammoud stressed that the peace initiative must be taken as a whole, adding peace was a "strategic choice" and that Israel was the party that was rejecting peace. "We are not calling for war. We are just seeking justice and a fair and comprehensive solution," he said. He urged other parties in peace efforts to pressure Israel to "come back to the road of peace". Moussa said the peace vision expressed by U.S. President George W. Bush included positive aspects but had other aspects which should be discussed. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher told reporters Palestinian President Yasser Arafat was the legitimate and democratically elected leader of his people. Bush last month gave a Middle East policy speech proposing a Palestinian state, but only after Palestinians had changed their leaders, reformed their institutions and ended violence. His vision was greeted coolly by most Arab leaders. Shaath said on Friday that the United States was isolated in its stance regarding Arafat because the international community recognised him as the legally elected leader of the Palestinians. |
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